OpenGov - Open Government Brainstorm

only a single payer system will bring health care costs down. tort reform without health care reform will lead the patient too vulnerable.

as far as legal reform, i think we need to reconsider what constitutes medical negligence. medicine is not a perfect science and errors in judgement occur. gross mistakes and carelessness need to be accounted for. medical error results in a lot of medical expense also.

I agree. At every step of health care, liability insurance and the threat and reality of lawsuits makes health care less efficient and more expensive. I work with medical equipment, and most of the huge cost of each part and assembly is because of liability and very expensive and time consuming FDA approval requirements.

Then rather than tinker with the right of civil suit, Reduce FDA to recommendation and eliminate the insurance industry deep pockets.

It is those pockets full of money that cause the problem. Not people who have endured malpractice.

Like the lady said, who breasts were accidentally removed, 250,000 is not enough.

i agree with sobi

By saying I agree, I meant to the original poster (keevernw). Tort reform does not have to make the patient more vulnerable. If there are enough providers and clinical staff, their professionalism and devotion to their work is the best way to ensure good outcomes.

Mistakes come largely from overwork, low staffing, and unwarranted reliance on technology.

I have serious doubts about single payer. There are many things about health care that need to be fixed before we even consider a single payer system.

there are many things about health care that will only be fixed with a single payer system.

Dont get me wrong. I do not wish to see patients that are injured slighted. The goal should be to make sure the system prevents the injuries or mistakes in the first place. A monetary payment can never make up for a physical mistake.

i think as long as insurance companies are setting medical standards and pigeon holing doctor's diagnosis and medical protocols then we are all at risk for medical errors in judgement.

also, our medical residents in hospitals undergo a ridiculous regime. i spoke to a young med student who is starting residency this week at a hospital. she told me she will be working 80 hours a week. that is dangerous for doctor and patient.

Money does improve health care.

Having it improves health care.

Losing it to a malpractice suit improves health care.

Until it is possible to regrow those breasts, 250,000 is sadly short.

It may not fix what happened, but it is better than saying tough luck. Move on.

Anyone that votes against tort reform has no idea what it costs doctors and hospitals to maintain malpractice insurance. Mistakes happen and injured parties need to be compensated for their losses. I don't think anyone disagrees with that. However, the reality is that people often sue when there have been no damages, and legal representation to defend against the abuses of the system is a large part of what drives medical costs up.

The high and rising costs of malpractice insurance in some fields of medicine is causing a shortage of new doctors. Young doctors begin their careers hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, and malpractice insurance in some fields costs hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

Those outside the medical field have no idea what goes on behind the scenes so they often think that there is some easy fix for the rise in health care costs- there isn't. Despite the high costs there is little to no profit. Most hospitals are merely trying to break even at the end of the year, and many are closing their doors.

There is the cost of constant upgrades in equipment required to offer the best level of care, there are countless staff that work behind the scenes, there are nurses, PA's, therapist, etc. There's far more to it than what you see during your office visit. The money you spend gets divided very quickly, and health insurance companies are near criminal in their abilities to withhold payment for services rendered.

Tort reform could go a long way in helping to decrease the costs and improve the quality of health care in the U.S.

Tort reform is not the cure for frivolous lawsuits. There already is a system for that.

The belief that frivolous lawsuits are what drive up medical costs is seductive but incorrect.

These awards were made by juries. There must have been cause.

The awards aren't the cost for most doctors- the cost IS (among other things briefly mentioned in my last comment) in maintaining RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE malpractice insurance. The truth is that there is a full laundry list of things that drive the cost of health care so high, and if you want to maintain the same level of care that you expect now, then the costs will remain high.

To fix the problems we have now we are going to have to take a many factored approach to address many different elements. To think that there is a "magic bullet" that will fix all the problems is a gross oversimplification.

This is a step that would help to drive costs down- would it make health care anywhere near affordable? probably not. Would it work as a step in the right direction? hell yes.

In the most common fallacies category:

If you knew what I knew, you would think what I think.

It is false.